American literature has never been content to be just one among the many literatures of the Western World. It has always aspired to be the literature not only of a new continent but of a New World. ↗
The innovative spirit was America's strongest attribute, transforming everything into a brave new world, but there lingered an insecurity about the arts. ↗
And so there I was living in California from Brooklyn, New York, and it was this whole new world for me and I was meeting vegetarians. I thought, let me try this vegetarian thing. I got really into that. ↗